Track is my field: Mark Cullen's international track and field blog featuring storytelling, commentary, and predictions and event analyses for the Olympics and World Championships. I'm writing from the 2017 World Championships in London. I'm active on twitter: @trackerati

Saturday, August 29, 2015

The very first time Track
and Field News linked to an article of mine, it was two summers ago after
the Harry Jerome and Victoria International meets in Canada. The focus was on several athletes and on their
quest to achieve the World Championships “A” standard.

The first athlete I
wrote about was Melissa Bishop, who shrieked when she crossed the finish line
and saw her time: 1:59.76, her first time under two minutes, and an automatic
qualifier for the 2013 World Championships.

She was not on anyone’s radar screen for a medal here until
the semi-final rounds when she ran 1:57.52 to win the deepest qualifying round
in World Championships history (1:58.50 did not make the finals out of this
semi).

Tonight she won silver, just .09 out of what would have been
one of the most improbable golds at these championships.

As it is, it’s one of the most improbable silvers.

All of you claiming to have had her in your top three in
your prediction contests likely know “O Canada” by heart.

Ashton

Ashton Eaton’s javelin throw was key to putting him in
position to go after his world record in the decathlon; his second throw - had it been fair - would have made his task in the 1500m much easier.

Many on press row
thought he had thrown in the towel on the first lap, and it was clear after two
laps he was well behind the pace needed to break his own world record. But Eaton, as
he had in his world record in the US Olympic Trials in 2012, played a
waiting game. Turns out he was just warming up.

Eaton unleashed a tremendous kick in the last 300m and stopped
the clock at 4:17.52, just under the 4:18.25 he needed. He added 6 points to
his best-ever score, which now stands at 9045.

Chinese
Athletes at Worlds

After not having struck gold during their own Olympics in
2008, China did so in the women’s 20k racewalk when Hong Liu won gold – and Xiuzhi
Lu added silver for good measure. China has seven medals in these
championships, one gold, five silver, and one bronze.

Tonight’s crowd reaction to the men’s
sprint relay silver was among the most compelling I’ve heard in the eight World
Championships I’ve attended.

Deep-throated, visceral, a soul-touching sound.

Last Sunday, China’s Bingtian Su made the 100m final and finished last.

You shoulda heard ‘em for 9th.

I’m sitting in the Bird's Nest and am certainly feeling wistful in this inevitable moment of departure.

I'm working on a reflection about the meet and these remarkable three months since the press pass came my way; I need a
little time, distance, and a sunny airplane ride across the Pacific to complete it.

In the meantime, I’ll close with this: for this experience, I am grateful beyond words.

Friday, August 28, 2015

The Netherlands’ Dafne Schippers won the 200m tonight in
21.63, a championship record and the fastest time in the last 17 years. Many
are calling it the greatest women’s 200m ever run, as Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson
and Veronica Campbell-Brown won silver and bronze in 21.63 and 21.97.

Schippers won the first Dutch World or Olympic gold medal
since 1992 when Ellen van Langen struck Olympic gold at 800m in Barcelona.

Schippers completed her ascendancy to the top of the world
sprinting ranks which began with double gold at the European Championships in
Zurich last summer.

The 33-year-old Campbell-Brown won her 18th major
meet medal.

Schippers took the lead with 3-5 meters to go in an
exceedingly close race. She knew she had it, but I wasn’t celebrating along
with my many Dutch relatives quite yet. There was a hush in the stadium as fans
awaited the posting of the results – and then a huge roar as the very popular
Schippers’ name came up first.

Medal ceremony is at 18:05 local time on Saturday for those
of you - ok, us – who have waited 23 years to hear Het Wilhelmus, the Dutch national anthem, played at a World or
Olympic championships.

Radio

In a previous post I mentioned my interview by Radio
Beijing. How this came about was that I was at the press conference for the
medalists in the men’s hammer throw. I am covering this event for my own
website as well as Track and Field News
and the Throwholics website in
Germany. I had some questions for the medalists, including ones about their
technique. In a press conference in which only four questions were asked, I
asked three of them.

A reporter from Radio Beijing approached me afterwards and she
asked if I’d be comfortable with being interviewed. Remind me next time to ask
what about.

That evening, Su Bingtian, had become the first Chinese man to
qualify for the finals of the 100m. The reporter asked if I was surprised that
a Chinese man would make the 100m final.

Not exactly a softball question! I replied that I was not,
of course, and went on to have a thoughtful discussion with her about the
socioeconomics of track and field. We discussed one of my
favorite parts of the meet, the first round of the men’s and women’s 100m, when
athletes from countries which sometimes don’t have a single track compete at
this definitive distance. This year, for example, Tashi Dendup, a teenager from
Bhutan, set his country’s national record of 12.15. I’ll let you know if the
interview is posted.

Interview with Segman

trackerati.com gets
to the bottom of the Segway fiasco

trackerati: How are you liking your new digs in Outer
Mongolia?

Segman: I didn’t know it was possible to get
here so fast!

trackerati: We didn’t know there still was a Chinese
Gulag.

Segman: There wasn’t! They made one just for me.

trackerati: How long do you expect to stay?

Segman: How long have you got?

trackerati: That’s not the question. How long haveyougot?

Segman: (blank stare)

trackerati: So, why did you take out Bolt?

Segman: I was just trying to get a great pic of him.

trackerati: Did you?

Segman: It’s a lovely photo, really, except his feet
are in the air.

trackerati: If only you had knocked over Justin Gatlin
instead,The Guardianwould have paid for your new life in Great Britain.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The Usain Bolt/Justin Gatlin travelin’ road show stopped
in Beijing once again this evening. After the super hype that accompanied their
100m showdown, tonight’s event seemed positively tame in comparison.

While Gatlin couldn’t beat Bolt, a Chinese photographer on a
Segway nearly did. He tripped Bolt and both went down hard, but Bolt, in spite
of joking that the photographer “tried to kill me,” bounced back and seemed
none the worse for wear.

Bolt was his usual playful self before the race; has he ever
met a camera he didn’t love?! Gatlin, on the other hand, seemed tense and
nervous, and his smile for the camera seemed forced. The outcome of this race
was no surprise.

I attended part of their post-race press conference and was
surprised to find a fairly friendly and respectful relationship between the
two. Bolt razzed Gatlin about his age, and Gatlin said that what the rest of
the world doesn’t see is Bolt calling him “old man” in the waiting room before races.

The 80.85/265-3 fourth round hammer throw by Poland’s Anita
Wlodarczyk is a championship record and the second-farthest hammer throw in
history. Poland has won three of the six hammer medals in these championships;
their men’s team won gold and bronze – a dominant performance by one nation in
one event.

Even more impressive is Germany’s across the board performance in
the throwing events, as they have advanced two or more to finals in all but one
throwing event so far. In that, David Storl won silver in the shot put.

Heartbroken at the end of the women’s hammer was Amanda
Bingson (US). The top 8 advanced to the last three throws (and a likely top 10
world ranking). Bingson was in 8th place with only two throwers left
who could displace her out of the last three rounds. Moldova’s Zalina Marghieva
topped Bingson’s mark by 3cm: 237’ 5” – 237’ 4”.

400m for the
Ages

Last night’s men’s 400m race was one for the ages.

Specifically:
23, 29, and 22.

In order to medal, you had to run under 44 flat. South Africa’s
23 year old find Wayde Van Niekerk defeated veteran LaShawn Merritt, 43.48 - 43.65. No slouch in bronze was Grenada’s Kirani James in 43.78.

James won this
title in 2011 in 44.60. When he won the 2012 London Olympics, he ran a
slowish 45.23. Neither time would have medaled here.

James is a favorite of mine in the stat book. He holds the
record for the fastest 400m ever run by a 14-year-old - 46.96 - which is nice
work if you can get it. He’ll turn 23 next month.

IAAF Daily
Event Reports Link

I took a break from writing daily summaries to write a piece
about the importance of both the reality and the symbolism of the results in
the men’s javelin, in which gold and silver were won for the first time by
throwers from Africa. It’s received a strong online response and was posted on
the popular RunBlogRun website today, along with another piece about women’s
hammer qualifying.

Well, I started sending out round by round qualifying and
finals results on twitter, and the international throwing community found these faster than Anita Wlodarczyk can spell her name. To say that there’s been a whole lotta tweetin’ and retweetin’ goin’
on is to put it mildly. The tweets are reaching an estimated audience of
upwards of 75,000 during each event, and throwing fans are delighted to see
their events getting this kind of attention.

This is not completely out of the blue. The German site
Throwholics is posting my articles about the throwing events, and they have a
very dedicated and enthusiastic following.

Still, I knew all this had gone too far when a USATF staffer
saw me in the mixed zone and said, “Hey, there’s the throws guy!”

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The podium in the men’s javelin looks quite different
than it ever has before.

Once the province of Northern and Central European
countries, tonight’s podium looks like this:

Gold Kenya Julius Yego

Silver Egypt Ihab Abdelrahman El Sayed

Bronze Finland Tero Pitkamaki

Until tonight, the IAAF World Championships men’s javelin
final had been held 14 times.

42 medals had been awarded – and there were no ties.

Of these 42 medals, 37 were won by European countries, 3
by North America, 1 by Asia, and 1 by Africa.

Tonight, two of the three - gold and silver - were won by Africa.

It is a truism in track and field that the simpler the
event the more diverse the medal winners. Put on a pair of race walking shoes
and the medalists come from six continents. Put on a pair of running shoes and
socioeconomic barriers to World and Olympic success begin to fall away.

But the more highly technical the equipment required for
an event, the more likely the medalists are to come from an increasingly narrow
geographic and socioeconomic range.

The smaller world we live in is one of the reasons access
to the technical events is broadening. Tonight’s winner, Julius Yego, is well known
in Kenya as “The YouTube Man.” He is a self-taught javelin thrower who says in
a video he produced, “My coach is me, and my YouTube videos.”

At the end of the most famous of his self-produced videos, Yego says, “As the world progresses, everything changes.”

It does, indeed.

The medal ceremony for the men’s javelin will be held
Thursday evening, August 27, at 18:35.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

One and done – that was the morning’s hammer throw
competition for Poland’s world record holder Anita Wlodarczyk, one of the most
prohibitive favorites in any event of these World Championships.

Wlodarczyk's 75.01/246-1 leads 12 qualifiers into Thursday’s final.

China, Germany, and the United States grabbed 6 of the 12
qualifying spots.

Zheng Wang (3rd, 73.06/239-8) and Wenxiu Zhang (4th,
72.92/239-3), will have the support of this highly vocal hometown crowd.

Germany’s 31-year-old 2007 World champ Bette Heidler
(9th, 70.60/231-7) seeks her 5th World or Olympic medal in her 10th
appearance at a major meet. Compatriot Katrin Klaas (7th, 71.41/234-3) goes for her first major
medal in her 8th attempt; she was 4th in 2009 and 5th
in the 2012 London Olympics.

US teammates Amber Campbell (72.06/236-5) and Amanda Bingson
(69.99/229-7) advanced by placing 6th and 11th,
respectively. Campbell noted that she feels very
comfortable in this facility as these World Championships mark her fourth
competition in the Bird’s Nest.

“It feels super comfortable, the people are always super
accommodating, so it’s a great atmosphere to throw in.”

“It’s been a very good year so I’m just going to keep
building on that,” she continued. “I had a 72 to open with and I’ll take it!”

Campbell was gracious to teammate and fellow qualifier
Bingson. “I’m so happy for her. I know she was back here sweating but she’s a
solid, solid girl and strong enough to do great tomorrow.”

US record holder Bingson, who finished 7th in the first qualifying
group and then had to wait through the second before learning she had advanced,
was excited by her 3rd throw, a three meter improvement over her other legal mark.

Until this point in her career, she said, “… it’s been
super, super jumps, and now we realize at 75m, you just can’t make those kinds
of jumps anymore.”

“I know I have the strength and I have the power and I know
it’s in my head. I know on the last throw I just relaxed a little bit and
trusted myself to do what I knew I had to do.”

Bingson is delighted with her performance here so far, but
her sights are clearly set on Rio.

After a
morning’s rest in the Bird’s Nest, competition at the 15th IAAF
World Championships resumed this evening.

First up was
an upset in the women’s discus. World and Olympic champion and pre-meet
favorite Sandra Perkovic could not get unwound until her final throw when she
vaulted from 4th place to 2nd to capture her third
consecutive major-meet medal with a throw of 67.39/.

Cuba’s Denia
Caballero’s first round 69.28/227-3 stood up for the win. This was not a total
surprise as she threw over 70 meters earlier this summer. Nadine Muller’s (GER)
65.53 withstood a final round challenge from Cuba’s Yaime Perez that missed
bronze by 7cm. Germany finished 3-5-7 and Cuba 1-4 in two terrific national
performances.

Great
Britain’s Olympic champion Greg Rutherford returned to the winner’s spot on the
podium in the long jump. He had only two legal jumps, and they both beat the
best everyone else had to offer. His winning 8.41 - 27’7 1/4'” is his seasonal
best.

Australia’s
Fabrice La Pierre’s 5th round 8.20-26’11” vaulted him into silver medal
position and broke a lot of Chinese hearts. His come-through performance knocked
Jianan Wang, Xinglong Gao, and Jinzhe Li down a spot each, but China had a
memorable national performance of 3-4-5 nonetheless.

The men’s
400m hurdles produced another surprise as Kenya’s Nicholas Bett won from lane 9
in a world-leading 47.79. Exceptionally fast times were required to medal;
Russia’s Denis Kudryavtsev won silver in 48.05 and Jeffery Gibson won bronze in
48.17. Kerron Clement missed bronze by .01 of a second in a dismal meet for US
400m hurdlers.

There were
few surprises in the night’s last two events, at least not at the front. The
Kenyan and Ethiopian middle distance crews came to the fore as Genzebe Dibaba
(Eth) and David Rudisha (Ken) won their respective specialties.

Rudisha
controlled the men’s 800m and even slowed it down. So feared is he that no one
would go by. He won the race going away… which is exactly what Dibaba did in
the 1500m. Her last lap is simply unbeatable, and it was clear with 800m to go
that the race was for 2nd. American Jenny Simpson bravely went with
Dibaba, but it was a failed mission as she faded to 11th.

IAAF is
reporting that Dibaba’s last 800m was run in 1:57.2.

This would
place her 2nd on the yearly outdoor world list in the open 800m.

(Apologies for text issues in this article; issue diagnosed and will be fixed later today.)Pawel
Fadjek won twice on Sunday.

First, he won the men’s
hammer competition as expected, and by a dominating margin.

Second, he won for
understatement of the year when he said, “I came in as a heavy favorite.”

Fajdek lived up to his
advance notices with a dominating 2.33/7-7 ¾ margin of victory with his
80.88/265-4 fourth-round winner over Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov.

“I was training hard for
this championships and I felt very confident,” said the World Champion, who
repeated his win from Moscow in 2013.

On a terrific day for
Poland which saw teammate Wojciech Nowicki pull off an unexpected podium finish,
Fajdek said, “The medal has got an even sweeter taste as my roommate got the
bronze medal.”

Nowicki said, “I have
always been trying to catch up with my friend Pawel Fajdek, as he always
encouraged me.”

Kristzian Pars (HUN) was
in bronze medal position until Nowicki unleashed his last-round throw of 78.55
to tie Nazarov. Nowicki said, “I was trying my throws again and again but still
it was not good enough. It worked in the last round - I am very surprised.”

Nazarov won silver on the
basis of the superior second-best throw, 78.06 to 77.20/256-1 to 253-3.

Nazarov was ecstatic about
his medal-winning performance.

“I am feeling a big joy
right now,” said the newly crowned silver medalist. “I realize that I won the
silver medal, but it took me a long time to get there. Now, finally, I won a
medal at the World Championships.”

Nazarov
hopes his medal will grow the sport in his home country. “I want to promote
athletics in Tajikistan,” he said, and noted that Tajikistan has previously had
a hammer gold medalist in Andrey Abduvaliyev in 1995.

Fifth
placer Sergey Litvinov (RUS) said he needs to go back to the Litvinov of 2011,
12, and 13. “The training was more motivated then,” he observed. “I was ready
today 100%, but I can do more in the preparation.” While his speed in the ring
was good, “I am not very powerful.”

About
his famous name, Litvinov said, “I am a very lucky guy. Not because my father
is Olympic champion ('88), not because he threw 86m (WR 86.74), but because he
knows a lot about hammer. This is the difference: not every hammer thrower
knows a lot… He was training alone and was thinking and (doing) a lot of
experiments.”

“I am
very lucky because I can go (train) this way. I know the way. He didn’t know
the way.” He admires his father for having figured out hammer training on his
own. While his father is not his trainer, he is his advisor, and Litvinov the
younger appreciates very much the insight his father brings to his program.

Litvinov
is looking forward to Rio. “In two days I go back to Russia and start the
preparation,” he said,” and he is impatient to begin his focused and demanding
year-long program.

“I don’t
want rest.”

Fajdek
found it “weird” that no one else is throwing 80m when he does so almost every
competition. He noted that age is a factor in this event, and that, “Everyone
over 30 is having a problem.”

The
26-year-old noted that he, too, had significant problems with his back last
year. “This time I think only about my health… not much weightlifting but only
throwing and this is why I throw it so far this year.”

When asked how he develops
and improves his remarkable speed in the ring, Fajdek said, “I do nothing
special” in training and “my coach has same rules of training as from 60
years.”

His assistant coach,
Jolanta Kumor, said that now that the competition is over, they will analyze
every part of Fajdek’s performance and technique, and even such variables as
the weather. “First I will congratulate him,” she said.But then,
in a few days, it’s back to the business of training.

When asked what he did well
in terms of technique in the World Championships competition, and what he needs
to focus on moving forward towards the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Fajdek said that
more important things come first.

“Something good to eat... maybe
Wojciech and I go to Pizza Hut to eat something good,” he said with
emphasis, as the local hotel food has not been to his liking. “After a few
days’ rest, back to training. Rio is really coming fast so we have to be
prepared there.”

He looks forward to working
again with his coach, Czeslaw Cybulski, who was struck by a hammer thrown by
Fajdek in June, and who watched the competition from his hospital bed.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Tonight’s women’s triple
jump final featured longtime rivals Caterine Ibarguen (COL) and Olga Rypakova (KZ).
Ibarguen won her second consecutive World title with a season’s best
14.90/48’10 ¾”, while Rypakova was edged by a centimeter for silver by Israel’s
Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko, who became that country’s first woman to medal at
Worlds. Giants of the event Olga Saladukha (UKR) and Ekaterina Koneva (RUS)
were surprise 6th and 7th place finishers.

The men’s steeple was a
disappointment for American Evan Jager, who faded to 6th in his
much heralded quest for a medal. Kenya swept the top four positions and surprising
Dan Huling (US) sprinted by Jager to claim 5th.

Ezekiel Kemboi won his 4th consecutive
World steeple title. In one of the greatest distance running careers of
all-time, Kemboi, who won the Olympics in 2004 and 2012, made up for his 2008
Beijing 7th in fine style tonight. In addition to his 6 major
meet golds, he also won World silvers in 2003, 2005, and 2007.

Canadian and University of
Akron student Shawn Barber won the bronze medal at the World Junior
Championships 3 years ago. Today he turned dragon slayer as he fended off some
of the world’s greatest track and field stars and won the pole vault in
5.90/19’4 ¼”.

Raphael Holzdeppe (GER)
prolonged the suspense by clearing 5.90 on his final try, but the 2013 champion could not improve on that height and gold was Barber’s. Bronze
medalist Renaud Lavillenie, the IAAF and Track and Field News 2014
world athlete of the year, failed in his second consecutive bid to win a World
outdoor title.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won
the women’s 100m in 10.76 to join Usain Bolt as Jamaican World 100m champ. Dafne
Schippers (NED) set a Dutch national record of 10.81 in winning silver.

Visibly moved by her
achievement, Schippers, who rose to prominence only a year ago with her 100/200
double in the European Championships, sealed her position in the top ranks of
sprinters with her first major meet medal. Fetchingly, she used the Dutch flag
as a handkerchief to wipe away tears. Torie Bowie (US) finished 3rd in
10.86; her bronze is her first major meet medal as well.

The women’s 10,000m was
unlike any run at this level for some time. That is, there was a pack of 7 with
one lap to go. No Tirunesh Dibaba running a victory lap before the race was
over - and three Americans were in the mix. The sprint was on and was won by
Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot in 31:41.31. Ethiopia’s Geleta Burka took silver, and
what happened next was painful to watch.

Molly Huddle (US) appeared
ready to cap her magnificent career with bronze, but she seemed unaware of
teammate Emily Infeld, who was in 4th and closing fast. Huddle
drifted to the outside, and she failed to protect lane one and force Infeld to
go around her. Huddle raised her arms in triumph a step short of the finish
line – and Infeld rushed by on the inside to grab bronze by .09 of a second.

A relatively quiet morning in the Bird’s Nest – at least as
compared to the 100m madness of last night. It was a hot and steamy walk over
here, but there’s a welcome breeze.

I remain amazed at how fast these events go. No, not the
100m… the six rounds of the men’s hammer last night, for example, seemed to go
by in a flash.

After a brief recap of this morning’s qualifying and two
major non-qualifying surprises for the US, I’ll close with something unexpected
from last evening.

Pole Vaulter Demi Payne was rumored earlier in the season to
be practicing at world record heights. But the NCAA champion had difficulty
with her steps today and did not advance to Wednesday’s final.

Long jumper and medal favorite Marquis Dendy had a final
jump that echoed that of Katarina Johnson-Thompson in yesterday’s heptathlon –
oh so close, lengthy discussion, but ultimately a failure to advance on the
third opportunity. He has another shot at a medal in the triple jump.

In this morning’s women’s discus qualifying, the results
from the two groups were remarkably parallel. That is, each group produced two
automatic qualifiers and well as four by next-best distance. Had an interesting
experience with Gia Lewis-Smallwood, which I’ve described in more detail in my separate
post about today’s discus qualifying.

Christine Day looked uncommonly smooth in winning her 400m
round. Not at the top of most lists of medal favorites, keep an eye on her as
the rounds progress.

The steeplechase still looks good for a US medal as Emma
Coburn advanced comfortably in her heat. The range of times among the three
heats was remarkably narrow, as the 15 finalists qualified between 9:24.38 –
9:30.23.

Realized I failed to mention in the midst of last night’s
magic that it wasn’t magical for everyone. Jenny Simpson and Shannon Rowbury
advanced to one of the championships’ most anticipated finals, tomorrow night’s
1500m. The remarkable run of Lauren Johnson came to an end as she missed the
final by one place; she ran well in her semi but acknowledged that she just
didn’t have it in the last 100m.

Up tonight are finals in the men’s pole vault, women’s
triple jump, women’s 10k, men’s steeple, and women’s 100m. Much anticipation in
the US delegation about the prospects of Evan Jager in the steeplechase; will
he put a dent in Kenyan dominance of the event with a medal tonight?

Much anticipation, too, among Oregon Ducks everywhere:
Jasmine Todd and English Gardner toe the line in tonight’s 100m semis, of which
there are three. It’s a brutal qualifying system that has the top 2 finishers
in each plus the next two fastest advancing to the final just under two hours
later. Both Todd and Gardner face legends in the sport. Todd goes up against Veronica
Campbell-Brown and Gardner faces heavy favorite Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Meanwhile, last night I was interviewed by Radio Beijing.
This came about when I asked several questions of the men’s hammer throw
medalists in their press conference; only one other journalist did so. I’ll
have more on this in a post to follow.

The results from the two qualifying groups in this morning’s
World Championships women’s discus throw were remarkably similar. Each group
produced two automatic qualifiers and well as four by next-best distance.

Boom! We have ourselves a final of 12, with all of the favorites
advancing to Tuesday evening’s final.

Germany had two automatic qualifiers in Nadine Muller
(64.39) and Julia Fischer (63.38). Croatia’s discus queen Sandra Perkovic,
World and Olympic champion, also surpassed the automatic qualifying standard
(63.00/206-8) with her 64.51, and Cuba’s Denia Caballero led all qualifiers at
65.15 (213-9).

With Shanice Craft also advancing, Germany leads the event with three finalists.

The US had two advance, Gia Lewis-Smallwood and Whitney
Ashley. In an interview with trackerati,
Lewis-Smallwood said, “It was nice and easy. My coach and I knew what the
distance would be - what would most likely be in the top 12. Throw it nice and
easy, get it in, get it done, go home, conserve energy for tomorrow.”

Lewis-Smallwood said she felt comfortable in the ring this
morning. “Honestly, my goal was to be smooth and let the technique work just to
get to the next day, don’t worry about the distance. You can style out tomorrow
with your whole soul, and then you let what happens happen.”

Speaking of letting what happens happen, a few minutes after our interview, I ran into Lewis-Smallwood as I was on my way out of the Bird’s Nest and she
was seeking her way back to the athletes’ warmup area. Fortunately, I knew the
way, and we walked together for several minutes.

It’s clear Lewis-Smallwood's many years of experience have made a meet like
Worlds more comfortable for her to navigate in spite of the time change, food
change, and distance from home.

The US champion is a very thoughtful, engaging, and energetic individual,

With the event's best gathered, an exciting and possibly dramatic competition is expected.

The women’s discus final begins at 19:00 on Tuesday, August 25, in the Bird’s Nest.

Here is a link to the startlist: http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/15th-iaaf-world-championships-4875/results/women/discus-throw/final/startlist#resultheader

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Usain Bolt answered the skeptics with a narrow but decisive
with over Justin Gatlin in tonight’s 100m final. The future is well-represented
in a third place tie by collegians Trayvon Bromell, who attends Baylor, and
Andre De Grasse, who is from Canada and attends USC.

The semi-finals featured an in-control Bolt winning his
semi; in spite of much discussion that he almost lost, he didn’t. Look closely
at the tape: in the last 5-7 meters he looks left at the field repeatedly and
runs just well enough to win. An in-your-face I’m-still-here kind of move.

Which he proved beyond the shadow of a doubt in the final.

The men’s hammer throw was won by Poland’s Pawel Fajdek by
2.33 meters over Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov. A surprise 3rd placer
was Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki.

Joe Kovacs (US), the heavy favorite in the shot put, pulled
out a 5th round winner over Germany’s David Storl. O’Dayne Richards
(Jam) set a national record to beat out the area record set by New Zealand’s
Tomas Walsh and win bronze.

Jessica Ennis-Hill (GB) won the heptathlon while Canada’s
Brianne Theisen-Eaton won silver. Theisen-Eaton tried to steal the victory in
the 800m but came up short in the final 100m. Latvia’s Laura Ikauniece-Admidina
set a national record in a bronze medal winning performance.

It was an electric the atmosphere in the Bird’s Nest before,
during, and after the men’s 100m final. Nine advanced to the final as three had
tied at 9.99 in qualifying for the 7th and 8th spots. So,
the 9th lane was used to accommodate a historic final in which all
had qualified under 10.00.

Femi Ogunode of Qatar ran 10.00 flat in his
semi-final and did not qualify. Tough company, indeed.

It’s a steamy morning in Beijing. The temperature is 77F/27C
and the humidity is 74%. For fans there’s a helpful breeze in the stadium, but
it didn’t help the men's 20 kilometer
racewalkers this morning. They had a surprising 08:45 start time –
surprising that it was that late. The men’s marathon yesterday started at a
more merciful 07:35, not that it ultimately helped much.

Spain’s Miguel Angel Lopez overtook China’s Zhan Wang in the
very late stages of today’s 20k walk to win in a personal best of 1:19:14. A
huge surprise in the bronze medal position was Canada’s Benjamin Thorne in a national
record 1:19:57.

With three under 1:20 for the medals, the next three walkers
finished under 1:21. The next ten came in in the next minute – a remarkably
deep field.

How do you know you’re at Worlds? 16th place is
1:21:56.

The Men’s 400m heatswere spectacular. In the first, four men broke 45.00.

Great Britain’s ace Martyn Rooney scored a PB 44.45 in 4th,
and The Netherlands’ Liemarvin Bonevacia set a national record of 44.72 in 5th.
Czechoslovakia’s Pavel Maslak was the only member of this heat not to advance;
his 45.16 would have won the 5th heat. Kicking himself for the rest
of his life for missing this epic race will be Israel’s Donald Sanford, who did
not start.

Stat maven K Ken Nakamura said, “This is the greatest first
round 400m in history. The 400m has the potential to be the highlight of the
meet.”

Women’s 100m

Not to be outdone, Torie Bowie (US) stepped to the line
in the women’s 100m rounds in her first major meet appearance.

“Today,
I wanted to stay relaxed” she said. “This is my first major championships and I
came out here extremely nervous today. I had to constantly tell myself to
relax, focus, do what you’ve been doing in training. My main goal was to try to
execute the first 20 meters of my race because everyone knows it’s my weakness,
it’s been my weakness. And I’ve worked really hard the past two weeks to try to
correct it.”

She won
in 10.88, the fastest first-round women’s 100m in the 15 iterations of these
championships.

Men’s Shot Put

The usual suspects are through to tonight’s final; Joe
Kovacs (US), David Storl (GER), and Reese Hoffa (US) all met the automatic
qualifying mark of 20.65/67-9. Last to qualify was New Zealand’s young phenom
with the fetching name of Jacko Gill. He edged out the US’s Jordan Clarke by
5cm.

It will
be a throwing fan’s dream tonight as the men’s hammer throw and shot put finals
unwind.

Women’s
Heptathlon

Unfortunately, today’s biggest news was Katarina
Johnson-Thompson’s failure to record a legal mark in the long jump. In silver medal position at the time, she appeared to have jumped the longest jump
of the meet, but after several minutes’ review by officials, it was determined
she had - barely - scratched. She now has the second lowest score of those
remaining in the competition, but much to her credit, she competed in the
javelin which followed, and seems determined to complete the competition with its
final event, the 800m, this evening.

Meanwhile, here’s an example of what life can be like for prominent track and field athletes worldwide.

Here is David Macharia in the Daily
Nation, which covers East and Central Africa. This is after a mixed day for
Kenya yesterday when its men’s marathoners did not medal, yet their men’s 10k
team went 2-3-4. (Bolding is mine.)

"The 10,000m trio of Geoffrey Kamworor, Paul Tanui, and Bedan Karoki salvaged some Kenyan pride on Day One of the 2015 World Athletics Championships here after a horror show in the men's Marathon. After a disappointing performance in the first event of the day, where the highly-fanciedteam of Wilson Kipsang, Dennis Kimetto and Mark Korir went AWOL on the road, Kenya ended the day with some hope."

No pressure.

(Thanks to Track and Field News for the link.)

At US Nationals in Eugene, by the luck of the draw of
which cards were placed next to each other for seating assignments, my press
row compatriot to my left was Steve Ritchie of the Statesman Journal of Salem,
Oregon. He covers athletes from Salem to Bend, with a stop in Prineville,
Ashton Eaton’s hometown. Steve and I hit it off in Eugene and
looked forward to staying in touch.

I had started my writing from Beijing with a reflection on
the process by which my press pass came about, and vowed that that would be the last
of my ‘can you believe this coincidence’ stories – for this meet, anyway.

Steve is sitting next to me.

Granted, press row seats are
assigned by nation, but still… the US delegation occupies a number of rows.

On my other side? K Ken Nakamura, one of the world’s
greatest track and field statisticians.

I’ll fight you for my seat!

*From now on I'll be referring to the press section by its more contemporary name: the media tribune. Believe me, it's far more than one row.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

With nine laps to go in the men’s 10,000m race, it was Kenya vs the Independent Republic of
Portland. Mo Farah and Galen Rupp led the charge for their respective
countries, Great Britain and the United States, as well as their Portland based
Nike Oregon Project. With one lap to go and Rupp in 3rd, it looked
like Farah and Rupp would go 1-3, possibly even 1-2. But while Farah used his
trademark kick to hold off Kenya’s new star, Geoffrey Kamworor, Rupp faded
badly at the top of the backstretch and slowed to a jog to the finish line when
he knew his 5th place was assured.

Kenya employed terrific team tactics in an effort to end
Farah’s World, Olympic, and Prefontaine Classic reign as 10,000m king. Silver
medalist Geoffrey Kamworor said, “We worked as a team trying to beat Mo Farah,
but he is a tough guy to beat. I learned a lot from this race, it was very
tactical, very slow from the beginning but getting faster and faster.”

Paul Tanui said of his bronze medal performance, “It was
a hard race, a very tactical race. But the Kenyan team worked together very
well from the first lap until the very end. I will celebrate this medal with my
family.”

Mo Farah’s gold hung in the balance when he stumbled and
almost fell on the last lap. “I nearly went down, but I managed to stay on my
feet, thank God, and win the race.” Farah noted that he is here without his
family. “I do it for my family and the people behind me, for my wife and my
kids. My wife is expecting, soon, another baby is on the way.”

A few additional
Day #1 Evening notes:

Women’s shot
put: the form charts held true as the standings after the morning
qualifying rounds held up in the evening. Christina Schwanitz won by a narrow
margin over China’s Lijiao Gong, 20.37m – 20.30m (66’ 10” vs 66’ 7 ¼”).
Michelle Carter (US) won bronze.

Men’s 400m
hurdles: Bershawn Jackson was today’s stunner in any event. The US
champion and co-favorite began to lose his form down the homestretch and
stutter-stepped badly over the last hurdle. He finished a startling
non-qualifying 7th in his heat. He was hoping to celebrate his 2005
Helsinki win when he was 20 years old with a repeat performance here.

Men’s 100m

Here’s my summary of this evening’s men’s 100m
qualifying:

Usain Bolt (Jam) cruised to a win in his heat and
qualified for the semi-finals in 9.96.

Asafa Powell (Jam) cruised to a win in his heat and
qualified for the semi-finals in 9.95.

Jimmy Vicault (Fra) cruised to a win in his heat and
qualified for the semi-finals in 9.92.

Trayvon Bromell (US) cruised to a win in his heat and
qualified for the semi-finals in 9.91.

Justin Gatlin (US) cruised to a win in his heat and
qualified for the semi-finals in 9.83.

This morning’s marathon results show just how spectacular
Sammy Wanjiru’s 2:06:32 was on the same Olympic course in 2008. The closest
anyone got to his remarkable time today was 5:56 slower in conditions that were
only marginally better.

An outstanding field fell apart. 24/65 starters did not
finish in the hot and humid conditions, including the current and past world
record holders, Dennis Kimetto and Wilson Kipsang.

Not surprisingly, no one recorded a personal best, though a
surprising 12 recorded seasonal bests, including Scott Smith (US), whose
2:24:53 earned him 28th place, only 12:25 behind the winning time of
Eritrea’s 19-year-old sensation, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie.

There was much confusion about whether or not to run an
extra lap after running the first 100m in the stadium and crossing the
start/finish line.

Even finishers around 2:25-2:30 - by which time officials
should have had ample time to respond - were mightily confused about whether or
not to continue. Most finishers stopped when waved down by an official farther down the track, and
many ran into and through the groups of heptathletes who were warming up for
the high jump.

A poor show, indeed – and surprising, especially the lack of
timely response once it was so evident there was a problem.

Cheer for China

Qualifying for tonight’s shot put final went according to
form, with Michelle Carter (US) a strong second behind favorite Christina
Schwanitz. China’s Lijiao Gong and Yang Gao qualified 3rd and 9th,
respectively. Tia Brooks (US) finished a heartbreaking 2cm out of the finals.

Expect the Nest to be rockin’ later this evening when the Chinese take the
stage. A nationwide audience of hundreds of millions. No pressure.

When a
Chinese athlete is introduced in the Bird’s Nest, it gets a little deafening in
here.

W1500m

I had an interesting exchange with Jenny Simpson at the USATF
press conference on Friday. Simpson is the 2011 world champion in this event,
and 2013 silver medalist.

Often overlooked is her 2009 5th place steeplechase finish in Berlin, where she ran a magnificently paced race to finish fifth in
an American record of 9:12.50. With her 1500m PR now 3:57.22, many observers
think she would have a legitimate shot at the steeple world record of 8:58.81.

When I asked if she had any plans to incorporate the steeple into her future plans, she said it was unlikely, as she wants to limit the
possibility of injury, and she demurs to her friend and training partner Emma
Coburn, who broke Simpson’s record with her 9:11.42 in 2014.

With her Berlin 5th, Simpson - who was then known
as Jenny Barringer - has a record of 5-1-2 in the last three World
Championships, one of the finest records in US middle/long distance history.

She concluded, “Thanks for remembering the Barringer days.”

Men’s 10k Tonight

With Mo Farah’s major meet streak on the line, the field
will be crazy to let it be a kicker’s race once again. The fields keep playing
into his hands by letting him unleash his withering kick at the end. The only
hope his competitors have of ending his streak is to take it out on this warm
and humid night and try to burn the sting out of his kick.

One name: Geoffrey
Kamworor. A young talent from Kenya, Kamworor and teammate Paul Tanui are the
two who have the best chance of pulling the upset against the World and Olympic
champion. I would like nothing more than to see what Mo can do in a race that
finishes in the 26:30s.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Marks were notably short in the men’s World Championships
hammer throw qualifying in the Bird’s Nest in Beijing this morning. Only two throwers
achieved the 77.00 (252-7) automatic qualifying standard, 1/30
recorded a seasonal best, and no one recorded a personal best.

Favorite Pawel Fajdek (POL) led all qualifiers with his
78.38 (257-2), and Great Britain’s Nick Miller advanced with 77.42 (254-0).

Tuomas Sappanen’s (Fin) 74.74 (245-2) made him the lone
qualifier to advance with a seasonal best.

The 12th and last qualifier, Slovakia’s Marcel
Lomnicky, advanced to tomorrow’s final with a best of 74.51 (244-5), and Conor
McCullough (US) just missed qualifying by 20cm in 13th place.

“I was expecting to have to throw 75 plus - maybe 76 - to
get through,” said McCullough. “I’m not sure why the bottom line was a little
bit lower. The final’s tomorrow so guys may be holding back a lot.”

Hungary’s Krisztian Pars, who qualified in 9th place with an
uncharacteristic 75.37 (247-3), said, “At the beginning of the season, I felt I
could throw 83.00 (272-4) this year. But after that I have been struggling with
pain in my left hand and then with my back. I could not train very much and now
I miss it.”

He added, “I go to the gym now to do some weight lifting.”

The Czech Republic’s Lukas Melich was the major casualty of
the day. He said, “As the defending bronze medalist from Moscow, I was
expecting to get to the final. But my shape is not ideal this year.” After an
injury, “I trained too much and it did not work for me.” His 72.12 (236-7) left
him in 20th place.

The morning session of the first day of the 15th
IAAF World Championships has unusual bookends: the longest race and the
shortest.

First up is the men’s marathon at 07:35, and the session
concludes with heats of the much anticipated men’s 100m at 12:40.

In between, we have the first two events of the women’s
heptathlon, as Canada’s Brianne Thiesen-Eaton attempts to join husband Ashton
as multi-event royalty. Evan Jager’s quest to end Kenyan dominance of the
3,000m steeplechase gets underway, and the first round of the women’s 1500m –
one of the most electrifying events of the year – begins.

Just think: new world
record holder Genzebe Dibaba, Jenny Simpson, Sifan Hassan, and Shannon Rowbury - and you
haven’t even had your second cuppa jo yet!

The Krisztian Pars - Pawel Fadjek rivalry renews in the
hammer, and the first round of the men’s 800m gets underway, with much
speculation that world record holder David Rudisha may be in much better shape
than he claims. One of China’s brightest
hopes for a medal comes in the women’s shot put as Lijiao Gong tries to upset
favorite Christina Schwanitz. Notable is the absence of Valerie Adams, whose 56
meet win streak was broken earlier this year; she just underwent surgery -
again - in her native New Zealand. I hope this is not the end of her
magnificent career.

The good vs evil storyline of Usain Bolt vs American drug
cheat Justin Gatlin starts to play out in the opening round of the men’s 100m. No
false starts, please.

The men’s marathon field is loaded. This is news; not
every outstanding marathoner chooses to run Worlds since the six World Marathon
Majors are so much more lucrative. As noted here yesterday (scroll down, below),
Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang and Dennis Kimetto – the former and current world record
holders in the event – are among the favorites for medals.

Kipsang has won four marathon majors (London twice, Berlin,
New York), and Kimetto has never finished worse than third in these events.
Kipsang holds the edge as a tactician, though I’m afraid he’s remembered for
going out too fast in the London Olympic race, where he nonetheless won bronze.
Kipsang has run in the 2:03-2:04 range every year since 2010. He won New York
last fall with a confident, definitive move in Central Park.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, this year’s London winner, is absent
from this field; I had him as a medal pick for sure. Once again Kenya's hyper-political selection system costs them a legitimate chance at a medal. It will be interesting to
see what role Kenya’s Mark Korir plays in helping teammates Kipsang and
Kimetto; he could play a key pacing and tactical role.

Name champ Lelisa Desisa (Eth) is remarkably consistent, and
his Boston win this year was impressive. Nonetheless, he has thrived most in ‘time trial’
races.

Olympic (2012) and World (2013) champion Stephen Kiprotich
of Uganda is two times king. A huge upset in the first race, an unexpected
confirmation in the second. He’s a brilliant, patient game day racer, no matter
the pace. It’s time to give him his due and pick him to win. It pains me to
pick Kipsang for second as gold here would be the perfect end to a memorable career… lots of pressure on him as he knows that the whole running world is watching to see just how patient
he’ll be.

For third? Kimetto would be a logical pick, but I was particularly
impressed with Ethiopia’s Haile Berhanu in his win under hot conditions in
Dubai this past January. He’s 20 and has won all four of the marathons he’s
ever run. His is an atypical progression (4 marathons at 20?!), as he’s skipped basic training in the
5k and 10k. I’m going with the newbie for 3rd.

A note about event coverage and predictions. My
goal here is to provide a narrative of the championships from beginning to end. My prediction tome
(usually about 24 pages) is something I prepare for the Olympics every four
years. In that, I make predictions for all 47 events before the first event
begins. Here, I’ll be observing the development of each event throughout the
qualifying rounds and semis, and will offer observations about who’s hot and
who’s not, and whether or not the favorites are likely to live up to
expectations in the finals. I’ve written up the marathon here as it’s a
finals-only event.

I'll be covering the men's and women's hammer, men's and women's discus, and men's javelin for Track and Field News. Any writing I do about throwing events will also be posted on the Throwholics website.

A note about web access and blocking. The
Chinese government blocks Google (this website is Google-based) and social
media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The blocking has been
particularly challenging the last two days, in spite of my use of a VPN
(virtual private network). All of these sites work in the stadium, but not in my hotel room near the stadium. That’s where I’m writing
right now, and I have no idea if I’ll have this posted before the marathon
begins or not. It took at least two extra hours to get yesterday’s piece on
Kipsang and Kimetto posted.Meanwhile, the air quality is the best it's been in 10 days - how fortuitous is that?! It's 70F with 73% humidity at 6:33am with the marathon set to begin in 62 minutes.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Dennis Kimetto and Wilson Kipsang are two men tied by history. Kenyans both, one broke the world record of the other when Kimetto became the first man under 2:03 with his wondrous 2:02:57 at Berlin last October. He shattered Kipsang's mark of 2:03:23, run on the same Berlin course the year before. Rivals on the course, the warmth of the friendship of the consecutive world record holders was evident throughout a media briefing in Beijing Thursday afternoon.Surprisingly, there is only one World or Olympic medal between them, Kipsang's Olympic bronze from London in 2012. Kipsang rues a missed water bottle pickup in the Olympic race. While many think he went out too fast that day, Kipsang thinks the numbers tell the tale. "My biggest mistake was to miss my water at 5k," he said. He hesitated, and that hesitation cost him dearly. "I went, came back, and started again. Those seconds were the crucial difference."As for strategy this Saturday, Kipsang said, "I must run in a way I can win. I must keep a close watch.""You have to exercise some patience and save your energy," he said. "If you run too fast you'll lose your energy and water."Kipsang and Kimetto see their major rivals as coming from Ethiopia and Ugandan World and Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich. A Kenyan medal sweep is not out of the question, they agree.In fact, asserted Kipsang, "It's our plan."Kipsang and Kimetto paid tribute to the late Sammy Wanjiru, whose 2008 win here in Beijing under trying conditions is widely regarded as the single greatest performance in marathon history.Both found his race inspirational, and from Wanjiru they learned the value of tactics over time. While Kipsang sees time - a world record - as important as a medal, his closing statement on Thursday should strike fear in the hearts of his competitors."I still have the potential to do even more."

Left: Marathon World Record Holder, Dennis Kimetto, Kenya
Right: Former Marathon World Record Holder, Wilson Kipsang, Kenya
Center: Not a world record holder

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Sebastian Coe, two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2012 London Olympics Chair, was elected

president of the IAAF at its 48th Congress in Beijing today.

A narrower than expected victory of 115-92 over
rival Sergey Bubka puts Coe in charge of a sport and a federation facing
serious credibility issues due to a recent spate of negative publicity over
performance enhancing drugs.

Coe takes over the reins from Senegal’s Lamine Diack, who
completes a 16-year run in the position.

“We had two great candidates,” said TrackTown USA chief Vin
Lananna in an interview with trackerati. “We’re excited about working with Seb. We had a great relationship with President
Diack and so I feel like we’ll have a great shot to do something great for 2021
(when Eugene hosts the outdoor world championships), and I think Seb will be a
great person to work with.”

Lananna, who will also serve as head coach of the 2016 US
Olympic track and field team, expressed appreciation for the job Diack has done
in challenging times.

“President Diack… is a great diplomat of the sport of
athletics worldwide. He has navigated us through some difficult water. I think
the organization is in great shape and I think he hands the baton off to a
great leg.”

Coe is grateful for the “very, very firm foundation" Diack has left him. "He ceases to be our president on the 31st of
August," Coe stated, "but he will always be our spiritual president. He will
certainly be my spiritual president.”

“This, for me, is the pinnacle,” said a reflective Coe. “It is my sport,
it is my passion and it’s the thing that I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Track and field is the #1 sport and I am absolutely
delighted to be president of the #1 sport … It is my responsibility to make it
stronger – and I will.”

Saturday, August 15, 2015

This Just In:Dreams Do Come TrueOur Cub Reporter Gets a Press PassMain Accreditation Center, 15th IAAF World Track and Field Championships, Beijing

There’s something about the last Friday in May.

This year, Friday, May 29, was 40 years ago to the day
since I had brought my camera to a track meet at the University of Oregon, one
of only two times I brought it in my first 5 years of meets at Hayward Field.

As Steve Prefontaine and Frank Shorter warmed down after
the 5,000m, I took a snapshot of the two of them, likely around 8:30pm. It may
well be the last photo ever taken of Prefontaine in a competitive setting. Four
hours later, Pre died in a car accident.

In this, my second year of writing trackerati, I decided it was time to start applying for press passes.
To test the waters, yes, but much more for the access a pass gives you to the
athletes. I was eager to fill out my stories with their voices more clearly
heard.

I was delighted with positive responses from the Prefontaine
Classic (IAAF) and US Nationals (USATF); the Pre Classic media people wrote
back to say, “Who are you? What are you doing?”

I tried for the Olympics and
World Championships as well; the Olympics application lasted about two weeks.

From Beijing, in spite of the fact that they had adhered
rigorously to their application timetable at first, the LOC (Local Organizing
Committee) of this year’s World Championships fell oddly silent. Their notification
deadline blew by, and hope of this dream coming true anytime soon slipped away.

I don’t usually check my email right before I go to work,
but with a flight to Eugene and its fabled “Distance Night” scheduled for late
in the afternoon of May 29, I thought I’d better look.

A message from Beijing.

In the sort of chatty tone that suggested we were picking
up a recent conversation, they said we need just two more documents from you.
Once we receive them we’ll issue you a writer’s credential for the World
Championships.

Hello?!

Then a follow up message to clarify that this is for
writing only, and if I’d like to take pictures, even if only in the mixed zone
(interview area), they’d have to send my application back and it would trigger
new rounds of review for a different kind of credential.

Conversation with myself: dude, you are hours away from
having a press pass to Worlds. You could mess up the entire thing by reaching
for too much. How would it feel to be on press row at the Pre Classic tonight with a World’s media credential in
hand?

Came the email from Beijing: ACCEPTED.

So when it came time to retrieve the Worlds pass itself,
I found myself in Beijing this past Wednesday on a sweltering, heavily polluted
day. The only description I can give to the air that day is apocalyptic.

My first attempt at getting to the Accreditation Center
at the foot of Ling Long Pagoda in Beijing’s Olympic Park ended when I found
myself – at the end of a very long walk – fenced in by what I later deduced was
the protective fence for the marathon and race walk events.

Try getting into those without authorization.

My retreat brought me back to my hotel, a cooling off
period, and more careful scrutiny out the window of my route.

By the time I got to the pagoda half an hour later, I was
beet red in the face and drenched in sweat. No matter how hard I tried, I
couldn’t stop the sweating. A young woman showed up and asked if I’d like water
and I declined; she brought it anyway.

My photo on the media credential shows the glistening,
shows the redness, and indicates the insufferable heat and humidity of that
day. But it shows something else.

I’m beaming.

* * *

Unexpected epilogue:

Yesterday, Track
and Field News invited me to join their events news writing team for the
World Championships. My assignments will come next week and I’ll post them here.

Two years, one week, 6 days since I started writing
again.

Now I know how long it takes for a dream to come true.

* * *

Interestingly, two related pieces, “A Ride for Robert”
and “Teardrop of Sunlight” have been my two
most widely read pieces of the first two years of trackerati. They are, respectively, the longest and shortest pieces
I’ve posted. “A Ride for Robert” starts and finishes when? On the last Fridays
of May in 2012 and ‘13.

I’d like to send out special thanks to Sieg Lindstrom,
Managing Editor of Track and Field News;
Amanda Brooks, USATF Marketing and Communications Manager; Curtis Anderson,
Director of Communications for TrackTown USA; and Kim Spir, Editor of the TAFWA
(Track and Field Writers of America) newsletter.

It was Sieg who saw something he liked in the summer of
2013 and starting linking to my work on the Track
and Field News website. It was Curtis who vouched for me for the first press
passes, including this year. It was Amanda who made it possible for me to
initiate the Beijing application process by issuing an accreditation access
code to trackerati. Without an
accreditation code from Amanda, in this business you are toast (or, as my
laptop autocorrected so wisely here in China, Taoist). And it was Kim who introduced
me to my colleagues in the US by including several of my pieces in the TAFWA
newsletter.

Without the four of you, I am not sitting in a hotel in
Beijing writing this post.

To you and to everyone who has read a single article on
this website the last two years, thank you.

Scorcher

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Team USA Press Conference - London

Sometimes You're Walking Down the Hallway and...

Allyson Felix

Living the Dream

Bird's Nest, 8/29/15

@Trackerati

I'm active on Twitter every evening at Worlds. I'm live-tweeting the throws for the Throwholics website, but will chime in with other updates. I'll also post a daily piece here, whether a summary of events or a reflection on a single aspect of these championships.